


Where We Belong

by silasfinch



Series: Fantastical Worlds [4]
Category: Saving Hope (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, F/F, Gen, Political Alliances, Reunions, Starfleet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 22:57:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20647067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silasfinch/pseuds/silasfinch
Summary: Sydney Katz sent Maggie away to follow her dream to Starfleet.She wasn't expecting a reunion almost exactly on schedule.The Academy Star and The Cautionary Tale





	Where We Belong

_ Say goodbye - maybe that's one way to go _

_ Walk away and say it's over, call it history _

_ Do I believe we'd better off apart? _

_ Can I see my world without you in it? _

_ Baby, not for a single minute _

_ Let the moon give up the night _

_ All the stars leave heaven on high _

_ The sun would burn out before I'd ever lose you _

_ We can get over any wall _

_ If we have to fly, run, climb, or crawl _

_ Love will always lead us back _

_ Where we belong _

_ Baby, all we got to do is reach out _

_ No laying blame, no guilty party _

_ Lay our daggers down on the ground _

_ Hold each other and say we're sorry _

Jamie O'Neal - Where We Belong 

" You were wrong."

Dr Sydney Katz is half expecting the intrusion but hearing Maggie Lin's voice after such a long time is still jarring. Officially her former student is back on Earth for the wedding ceremony for her best friend, Alex Reid. Sydney is sure she has the invitation to the event somewhere in her backlog of personal communications.

Regardless, Maggie is meant to be in Ontario, Canada, not in the remotest parts of Israel, where she bases her medical clinic. The distance is irrelevant with transporters, but this won't be a casual visit between friends. Syd makes a mental note to talk to security about letting people through to her private office. Maggie Lin is charming, but there were security procedures for a reason. 

"I am wrong about many things daily, Dr Lin, you need to be more specific in your accusation."

The taller woman looks almost intimidating in her perfectly pressed uniform and with the shinny pips noting her new rank on the collar. She is everything that Sydney knew she would become when they parted just over two years ago. Starfleet is lucky to have a medical professional of her quality and dedication. 

Sydney Katz tries not to hear about her former protege, but their graduating class is only so big. Dr Lin is making plenty of discoveries as part of the medical exhibition force with the  _ USS Franklin.  _ In particular, her study into the effects of space travel and warp-drive on young children and pregnant mothers. The work is becoming increasingly important as more planets join the Federation of Planets and colonies spread across greater distances than ever before. 

The constant expansion and pressure on officers are some of the many reasons Sydney Katz didn't agree with Starfleet or the 5-year missions. She wants to heal and sustain the community at home without interfering for galactic politics or trade negotiation. 

"Time away hasn't made me miss you any less, and I still think about you nearly every day. I am sorry if that puts a spanner in your grand plan."

***

"I hear congratulations are in order."

"I thought you did your best to avoid Starfleet news and scuttle bug."

Sydney isn't remotely ready for this conversation or the implications. She isn't going to turn Maggie away; her manners are rusty from disuse, but she hasn't forgotten the principles of childhood. She still has Maggie's favourite tea and coffee blends into the replicator. The question about the promotion is a pathetic delaying tactic anyone can see the other woman's change in rank. 

"I do, but our former classmates track me down even out here. Besides, I didn't agree with the choice, but I never lost interest in your accomplishments, Maggie." 

"Is that why the only communication I've had from you in the last two years is a detailed review of every paper with my name in credits? I guess it's a good thing the field of fetal medicine is such a prolific one" Maggie quips drily. 

Sydney pauses as she adds a small amount of sugar to her guest's tea and slices the scones a patient made for her this morning. There is such pain underlying the words that it is difficult to formulate a response that doesn't sound generic or false. 

"I didn't have the right to ask anything more of you, Maggie, not with how we left things. I thought about hiring a transport many times but committing to such a concrete step required more courage than I possess."

"You knew I would come back whatever the circumstances" Maggie offers wearily. 

"I hoped to see you again after you first away mission, but I had no expectations on you. Neither of us is the young medical students and junior doctors on opposite sides of the political aisle." 

"People are more than their political or religious afflictions. I came here as your friend and somebody who loves you not as a representative of the institution I work for." 

"Being a Starfleet officer and following in the footsteps of Admiral Lin represents a fundamental part of your identity, Maggie. Protesting and resisting that some legacy is part of mine." 

"We aren't the Montagues and the Capulets Syd. People are allowed to disagree about plenty of things without it letting to a communication blackout in the name of my 'future happiness'. 

***

"You told me to wait two years Earth Standard Time."

"I am aware of what I said, Maggie."

"I believe your exact words were; we will reexamine our future once you complete the first mission and establish yourself aboard the  _ Franklin. D _ id you mean it or am I here on fool's errand?" 

"Of course, I meant it." 

"But you just didn't expect me to turn out and be willing to talk about the matter in depth." Maggie guesses with a sad but knowing smile

"Something like that or that I would fly in for one of your many award ceremonies."

The time apart doesn't bring too many changes to Maggie Lin. Aside from wearing the rank of the assistant medical officer, she looks just the same. Sydney can't even say she resents the time apart when it allows the younger doctor to reach for her dreams. Dr Lin is travelling the galaxy learning medical from different cultures and people. If she wants her former protegee will have a long career in Starfleet. 

"It would be more romantic if I graced your door precisely two years later. However, bending the laws of warp speed and the time-space continuum is beyond my powers even for you."

Sydney shuffles her feet uncomfortably before reaching for another mug of tea. 

"Please avoid anything of the sort. I am already in enough trouble with Starfleet Headquarters for dropping out of the advanced programme and becoming something of a rebel."

"The name Sydney Katz does have something close to legendary status in the halls of Starfleet Medical School though only for benign rebellion."

"Its a wonder to me you never brought into the rumours and innuendo about me and my anarchist nature." 

"Its a mystery to me why anyone brought into the reputation, to begin with, you were fighting to preserve structures not destroy them." 

Sydney can still remember being on the protest lines and demanding change while Maggie dutifully went to class and graduate school as a star pupil. The division only heightened the personal crisis that was brewing between them at the time. 

"I am proud of you, Maggie and everything you have achieved in such a short space of time."

***

"You have done well here."

"We aren't going to have all the conveniences of the Starfleet medical technological, but there is enough to service the people that need our services."

Dr Katz takes pleasure in showing the other doctor around the facility. The rooms with 20 biobeds between them, six consulting rooms and small office space. Their meandering path is intercepted several times by nurses and juniors seeking approval or consultations. Maggie's teal coloured uniform raises a few eyebrows but no one comments. 

"Are you still focusing on maternal and infant health?" 

"We treat anybody who comes to the door that is where my training lists, especially now we see more hybrid gestations and pregnancy cycles."

"How does your faith reconcile such changes and challenges to Orthodoxy, especially within the bounds of Israel? Maggie asks with a neutral expression.

"Religions stand for centuries and millennia because they adjust to expectations of society. This community may resist the influence of modernity and the Federation's control. We are not oblivious to the realities."

Sydney hears the silent rebuke in the question. She wants to know why the other woman couldn't make similar changes or adjustments for the sake of a future relationship. There is no easy answer. Beyond the simple fact, she didn't want Maggie risking her entire life plan for a woman with fundamentally different expectations. 

"When I was unable to save your pregnancy, it was the ultimate clash between science and faith for me. I couldn't reconcile not being able to save you both even with generations of knowledge. Sydney whispers horsely 

"It becomes more natural to blame the circumstances than deal with the emotional pain. Losing a life you love almost as much as I do" Maggie offers

"The stars were your path to heal. I wasn't going to make your stay to perform my version of burial rights." 

Sydney reaches into the desk and pulls a small datapad her hand trembles as hands over the medical file. Maggie gasps as she recognises her vital statistics and limited data about the baby. 

***

"I never blamed you for what happened with the baby; you mistoke general anger for blame."

Maggie is sitting in the corner of the couch, gazing out at the unfamiliar Israeli skyline. Both women are crying, but they still keep a respectful distance between them. Maggie is still clutching the datapad in trembling fingers. Syd resolves to make a copy and put it a secure file.

"I know that Maggie but staying here with me while Alex, Charlie and everyone else went for the stars was going going to make the situation worse. We were stuck in an unhealthy pattern, to begin with; the loss brought things forward."

"I don't think to be light years apart has done our dynamic any good, do you?" Maggie asks softly 

"Maybe not, but you got your family in the Fleet, and I am building a life for myself with the clinic. Something had to break the stalemate between us."

Maggie closes the distance between them and gently reaches to pick up Syd's hands and to weave their fingers together and to refuse to let go. The touch is both strange and familiar." 

"Right now, I am playing for keeps and don't want to leave any half measures between us."

***

"None of our obstacles has gone away, Maggie."

"None of our problems are as insurmountable as you believe, Sydney."

Sydney moves slightly so that they are sitting facing each other. Maggie does look like a different person in civilian clothing with her hair out of regulation style. 

"The clashes over independence for countries within the Federation and Earth government are lessening by the day. We both have our careers now, and neither of us feels the pressures of family and legacy so keenly." 

"Are you saying we have both grown up?"

"Or no longer in the high-pressure world of graduate school and making decisions about life and career. Sydney Katz is no longer the cautionary tale for a recruit. I am much stronger than the woman you befriended at the end of my first trimester. If our feelings haven't changed, then why don't we try again? With everything out in the open?"

"Because I can't bear the thought of spending my time so far away from you, nor do I have the makings of a good Starfleet family woman." 

"There are other positions in Starfleet beyond serving long away missions. You always did tend towards black and white thinking. There are offices within 100 miles of this clinic."

***

"Will you come with me to Alex's wedding?"

"I do not think Dr Reid will appreciate my presence. We need not part on the best terms." 

Sydney is deliberately keeping her tone light, but the underlying message is genuine. Dr Alex Reid plays the role of the protective best friend well. She did not agree with both Sydney's opinion on Starfleet and the viability of any potential relationship. The accusation of cowardness wasn't without merit, but they stung nevertheless. 

"I am her best friend; she cannot veto my choice of date for the ceremony. Besides she will be too distracted by welcoming guests from three solar systems and convincing the Vulcan dance troop to perform." Maggie insists firmly 

Neither of them mentions that Maggie missed her shuttle back to Canada several hours ago or that Sydney is due to close the clinic. They fall into an easy conversation while circling the more significant issues. 

"Even if that means bringing a reclusive hermit who has no social life outside the hospital?"

"If it comes to it, I give you full permission to play three-dimensional chess in the corner."

Sydney laughs before standing and pulling her companion in for a tender kiss that felt like a new beginning and coming home. Maggie Lin is an answer to her prayers in the most fundamental sense, even without knowing all the answers to the distance that separate them. 

"Thank you for coming home to me." 


End file.
